A blog about food and beverage companies in Boulder, CO

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Month: May 2013

We’ve certainly learned a great deal about the food and beverage industry during our time contributing to this blog. Each of our group members approached the subject matter with a distinct perspective that added to the blog in a unique way. Although we have enjoyed our experience with the blog, we have chosen to end our journey here. We will not continue to make blog posts in the future, though we do appreciate all of your support over the past few months. Thank you for everything, we have certainly enjoyed ourselves and learned from this project.

My first post looked at the social side of the boulder food industry. Community Food Share donates millions of dollars in addition to thousands of pounds of food during its corporate challenge. The local food bank not only gives back to the community but also works on creating a strong relationship between other companies based in Boulder. This post helped to develop the other side of the food industry in Boulder. With a huge focus on being sustainable consumers forget that these companies also help support the community. After looking into all that Community Food share does I realized that there are many people suffering from poverty right here in Boulder County. The $12.5 million in food that Community Food Share donates goes to help the 59,000 people in Boulder and Broomfield County that are living below the poverty line.

The second post I made continued to look behind the scenes of the Boulder food industry. Silk, soymilk is based in Broomfield and has recently switched from natural and organic soybeans to conventional ones. One of the main focus points of many Boulder businesses is doing the right thing. After experiencing a lot of backlash from dedicated consumers, Silk began to take all the necessary steps to rebuild confidence in their brand once again. This post demonstrates the social responsibility that Boulder companies must have as well as how dedicated they are to building a strong relationship with consumers.

In week three I posted about the strong venture capital investment environment that Boulder has cultivated. Many large and successful corporations have come out of Boulder and this has attracted investors from all across the nation. With the help of these funds more businesses are erupting and seeing success.

My final post focused on one of the successful Boulder food companies that was able to grow with help from these investors. The most remarkable thing about Justin’s Nut Butter is that as they are expanding throughout the United States, they are still focused on doing the right thing. Justin’s still makes the products in small batches only using natural and premium ingredients. I think this company embodies the spirit of Boulder business. They are focused on sustainability and making new improvements every year to reduce their carbon footprint. They are focused on doing the right thing as shown through the numerous hours and funds put into several different charities. Justin’s is the perfect company to end my blog posts with because it truly encompasses all aspects of the being a business in Boulder

Boulder seems to be a hotspot for breweries, and the expansion of new breweries is by no means slowing down. Upslope, a local Boulder brewery, serves as a great example of how breweries in Boulder are continuing to grow. This local brewery had just opened their first brewhouse in north Boulder during the winter of 2008. In a short period, Colorado’s high demand for Upslope’s canned craft beers required for their production to expand. This just goes to show that dedication and a great tasting beer can propel breweries to success in Boulder, Colorado.

Only two years after Upslope’s opening, they decided that they needed to expand their brewhouse. Upslope brewery expanded into the warehouse space nearby their existing brewhouse in order to double their space to 4,400 square feet. With this expansion, this local brewery was able to increase production to 5,600 barrels of beer from its 7-barrel brewhouse at the end of last year. Yet again, they recently hit capacity for production and Matt Cutter, an Upslope co-founder, said, “A year ago last August, we’re sitting at Lee Hill and realized that the existing space was not going to be adequate for our future plans”.

In order to solve Upslope’s fortunate dilemma, they decided to open a second brewery, which just opened last week. This new brewery is a 17,000 square-foot facility with a 30-barrel brewhouse in east Boulder. Upslope’s east Boulder brewery is currently capable of producing 12,000 barrels, which is roughly 165,000 cases of beer a year. This expansion depicts the hard work they put in, and serves as an example of the local effects from the craft beer industry’s boom.

Not only are new breweries being established, but already established brewers are also expanding their operations or opening new breweries. “Some are definitely taking advantage of the opportunity to grow right now,” said Steve Kurowski, marketing manager for the Colorado Brewers Guild. According to the Brewers Association, a Boulder-based trade association that represents small and independent breweries, craft beer brewery sales increased from $8.7 billion in 2011, to $10.2 billion in 2012. Upslope brewing company is definitely a business that is taking advantage of the opportunity to grow right now, and sets a standard for up and coming breweries.